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The Beast
The Beast was a powerful demon and the enforcer of the goddess eventually known as Jasmine. Biography The 18th Century In 1789, the Beast was in Prussia; the Svear Priestesses were going to banish him from this dimension and had cast a spell so that he could not touch them. In an attempt to get assistance, he slaughtered several people in order to attract Angelus to him, at which point he attempted to create a mutual alliance with him. He wanted Angelus to kill the Svear and in return, the Beast would pay him back somewhere down the line; Angelus refused and was subsequently beaten half to death before the priestesses arrived to banish the Beast. Ascension in the 21st Century Eventually, the Beast rose up from the pits of hell. The first people to encounter the Beast were Cordelia and Connor, who found the Beast arriving on Earth at the exact spot where Connor had been born. A fight ensues, during which Cordelia was injured. Believing that he had something to do with the coming apocalypse, Connor distanced himself from his teammates, who did not trust him. Angel, Gunn, and Lorne decided to take on The Beast. Wesley rejoined them to help in the battle, but they failed and were all badly injured. With the help of a large human sacrifice at the Sky Temple, the Beast conjured the Rain of Fire over Los Angeles."Apocalypse, Nowish" Blocking the Sun The Beast, seeking to reach Mesektet (The Little Girl of the White Room), killed everyone working at Wolfram & Hart as he tried to reach the White Room, activating the building's security protocols which turned the majority of his victims into zombies. The Beast killed Mesektet and drained her of her dark energy. Following the death of Mesektet, the Beast hunted down the rest of her "family", an order of mystical beings known as the Ra-Tet. Ma'at, Ashet, and Semkhet were killed by the Beast. The final Ra-Tet, Manjet, was killed by Jasmine/Cordelia in secret. Using the metal wings in Ashet and Semkhet and the heart of Ma'at, the Beast made a ritual to eclipse the sun, which was completed when the dark energy of Mesektet was imbued in the orb which was extracted from Manjet's head. The eclipse began as a sunlight-blocking spot that spread covering Los Angeles and was supposed to eventually cover the totality of Earth. Angel's team believed that their only hope was in Angel's evil alter ego Angelus, who apparently knew the Beast in the past, even though Angel himself did not remember the encounter. This was revealed to be because all references to the Beast in this dimension were magically erased shortly before its arrival; Angelus was the only entity in this dimension unaffected, as he did not technically exist at the time the spell was cast. Once freed, Angelus was eventually convinced to reveal the details of his encounter with the Beast, also revealing the "bonus" information that the Beast was actually the minion of a greater evil; the Beast Angelus had encountered was only ever interested in destruction, while his current actions hinted at a deeper, more long-term plan that didn't fit with Angelus's recollections of him. After Angel's soul was stolen and a ritual to restore his soul via dark magic was faked — the ritual actually temporarily clouded Lorne's ability to read others so that he would read Angel/Angelus as possessing a soul when he sang; Angelus broke free and sought out the Beast to learn what its next plan was, although he mockingly rejected the Beast's offer to work for his master. Death With their options increasingly limited in the face of the Beast and Angelus, Wesley broke Faith out of jail to assist in Angelus' capture and fight the Beast. Although the Slayer was little match for the physically imposing demon, he was in the end betrayed by Angelus, who stabbed him with the knife the Beast had carved out of his own bones as a tribute to his master. The death of the Beast also undid the solar eclipse, leaving Faith in the sunlight and Angelus confined to the shadows, much to the latter's annoyance (Angelus didn't expect that the Beast's death would restore the sun). Personality and traits As noted by Angelus, the Beast was incredibly stupid and only cared about killing and causing mindless slaughter, to the extent that Angelus deduced that the fact that the Beast was operating with any kind of long-term plan at all proved that he was working for someone else. He was devoted to the plans of his master, but it is unclear if this was based on loyalty, fear, or even his own choice, given Jasmine's demonstrated power and her ability to inspire devotion in others. Powers and abilities The Beast possesses superhuman strength, stamina, durability, resistance and near-invulnerability far superior to most if not all vampires, demons and slayers (at least the one's that interacted with the earth). * Immortality: The Beast was an extremely old demon. He had not aged since encountering Angelus in Prussia during the 18th century. Despite his immortality, he could be killed by extreme superficial means. * Superhuman Strength: The Beast was a particularly powerful demon, capable of effortlessly defeating the entire Angel Investigations team during their first battle, even going so far as to stab Angel in the neck with his own stake. He was strong enough to easily cause Connor serious injuries, who was resistant enough to withstand being run over by a van. His strength allowed him to perform massive leaps. The Beast also hit Connor and Faith on separate occasions with a reverse punch which sent both flying back approximately ten to fifteen feet with no apparent downward arc in their trajectory, and in both cases their momentum was only stopped by impacting a large, solid object (in Connor's case, a metal dumpster, and in Faith's case, a large storage crate which was shattered by the force that she impacted it with). * Near-Invulnerability: The Beast possessed a rock-like hide, rendering him extremely resistant to physical damage; he withstood attacks from Angel and Faith without any sign of damage, and even close range shotgun blasts did little more than knock him off-balance for a few seconds. Despite his resilience, a rage filled Angel was capable of physically dominating the Beast for brief moments. The Beast even stopped Angel from poking out his eyes with a stake, indicating that the Beast was aware that his eyes were not as resilient as the rest of his physiology. * Regenerative Healing Factor: He may also have a regenerative healing factor. He was able to carve out part of his own bones to create a dagger for Jasmine and yet was unaffected. * Inter-Dimensional Travel: The Beast appeared to be capable of teleporting between dimensions; during one battle with Angel Investigations, he was banished to another dimension by a spell cast by Wesley and Fred, only to reappear behind them unscathed as soon as the portal closed. ** Teleportation: The Beast was seen quickly disappearing from frame after he killed Ashet. Given his lowered mobility, this is likely that his ability to teleport isn't limited to traveling between dimensions. * Magic Manipulation: In addition to his almost limitless physical abilities, the Beast had great magical abilities, allowing him to perform spells and rituals such as the Rain of Fire, draining Mesektet of her dark essence and performing the ritual to blot out the sun, although it is unclear whether he acquired this power himself or was simply using power that his 'master' had provided him with. Weaknesses * Lowered Mobility: His bulk made him incredibly slow, leaving him outmatched by Angelus' speed, allowing the vampire to easily avoid his blows and even find time to crack jokes while doing so (however, it should be noted that Angelus was more concerned with dodging the Beast's attacks than actually fighting back). * His Eyes: The Beast even Angel from poking out his eyes with a stake, indicating that the Beast was aware that his eyes were not as resilient as the rest of his physiology. * Weapons made from his Bones: The material of which his own bones were composed of was capable of piercing through his skin, as shown when Angelus killed the Beast with the dagger made from its own bones. However, the difficulty involved in acquiring such a weapon make it hard to exploit this disadvantage. Behind the Scenes *He was portrayed by Vladimir Kulich. *The Beast was written so that audiences would assume that he would be the season's Big Bad, in order to distract audiences from the Cordelia/Jasmine plotline. The Beast and Jasmine (in Cordelia's body) both made their first appearance in the same episode. ﻿ *The Beast holds many similarities with the Buffy villain The Judge. **Both are known only by title, rather than name. **Both are connected to the return of Angelus. **Both are initially considered to be utterly unstoppable. **Both very nearly destroy the protagonists in their first appearance. **Both are presented in such a way that they appear to be their season's Big Bad, only for it to be discovered that they were not. **It can be argued that both are defeated by their own arrogance (The Judge assumed that no weapon could possibly defeat him, and The Beast never considered that anyone would dare use his own weapon against him, or perhaps believed the dagger forged of his bone could not penetrate his flesh). Appearances *"Spin the Bottle" *"Apocalypse, Nowish" *"Habeas Corpses" *"Long Day's Journey" *"Awakening" (only in Angel's fantasy) *"Soulless" *"Calvary" *"Salvage" *"Release" *"Players" *"Inside Out" *"Shiny Happy People" *"Home" *"Origin" (Only in archive footage) References Category:Demons Category:Angel Investigations and Team Angel enemies Category:Demon Minions Category:Males Category:Deceased individuals Category:Los Angeles residents Category:Magic practitioners Category:Big Bads Category:Interdimensional beings